Primate memory showdown
In a computer storage-based contest 'tween you and a chimp, who do you think would win? If you put yourself on top, you might want to guess again.
In a task that challenged test takers to remember numbers, a young chimp performed better than Japanese college students.
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| A chimp has nonheritable the order of the numerals 1 through 9 and wowed researchers with his power to remember the positioning of those Book of Numbers on a screen after just a flying glimpse at them. To see a video clip of the chimp in process, click here operating theater on the image above. |
| Image: AP/Wide Planetary; Video courtesy of Current Biota |
Here's how the test worked: At Kyoto University in Japan, human students and chimp participants sat in front of a electronic computer. Different combinations of five numbers, all ranging from 1 through 9, popped up at stochastic places on the screen.
The numbers game stayed on the screen for scarce a fraction of a second. In the showtime test, for good example, participants saw the digits for 650 milliseconds. (That's about two-thirds of a second).
Then, for each one digit was replaced by a white square. Participants had to touch the squares in numerical regularise, based on the numbers that had been there a bit before.
In this mental testing, the students put the boxes in the correct order about 80 percent of the time. A young chimp named Ayumu performed about as well.
During a harder trial, test takers were able to imag the numbers racket for only 210 milliseconds.
After those flashes, students ordered the boxes correctly only when about 40 per centum of the time. But Ayumu still managed to prime the boxes in the right rate just about 80 percent of the time.
Some people have what's titled a "photographic memory," which allows them to remember a surprising number of details after just a agile glimpse at something. Ayumu's memory might work in a similar way, says wind researcher Tetsuro Matsuzawa.
The chimp's young age might have something to Doctor of Osteopathy with his impressive performance, too. In previous tests, the Asian nation researchers found that young chimps tended to perform better than their mothers did.
The scientists are interested to see whether Ayumu loses his abilities As he gets older. They already know that young children sometimes have file-like memories that work photographically, but they typically lose this acquisition finished time.
The new findings suggest more about memory than about math skills, researchers say. In fact, knowing too much more or less Book of Numbers may make memory tasks harder for populate than for chimps.
"Chimpanzees may feature a perceptual advantage that is slowed down in humans, whose noesis of numeration may interfere," says Sally Boysen of Ohio Commonwealth University in Columbus.
What's more, Ayumu's performance doesn't skilled that all chimpanzees have better memories than totally multitude. Ayumu might scarce be an extraordinary animal. And some exceptional populate—including kids—might be able to outperform him.
In point of fact, overall, chimps and the great unwashe had interchangeable scores in the series of memory tests.
"I would argue that this is screening a major qualitative similarity" between species, says Elizabeth I Brannon of Duke University in Durham, N.C., "rather than a prima difference."
Going Deeper:
Milius, Susan. 2007. Chimp champ: Ape aces memory test, outscores people.Science News 172(Dec. 8):355-356. Available at http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20071208/fob2.asp viper .
To see a video jog of Ayumu demonstrating his memory skills, click here (Video good manners of Current Biology).
Sohn, Emily. 2003. It's a mathematics world for animals.Science News for Kids (Oct. 8). Available at http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/articles/20031008/Feature1.Vipera aspis .
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